Making an informed decision on buying a TV in SA is impossible

[Raven007140]

I've been looking to upgrade my tv and I've accidently stepped into the shady and deceitful world of TV marketing.
My journey started with a search on www.rtings.com to see what budget options they recommend. I came across the Hisense U8G which has 1500 nits peak brightness, 360 local dimming zones and a 10bit panel.

If you don't know what these specs mean:
Peak brightness is pretty self explanatory and measure how bright the TV can get, which is important for HDR content.
Local dimming allows the TV to dim certain zones independently. This helps if you have a really dark and really light object on screen at the same time. If you have no local dimming the tv will try to find a middle ground often dimming the bright object and increasing the brightness of the dark object which reduces the contrast in the scene. More local dimming zones = better.
10 Bit panel can produce a wider range of colours than an 8bit panel. This is also important for HDR content.

Back to my story:
I google and see that the U8G is available locally. However there's a catch, it's not the same as the US version of the TV! The SA version has 1000 nits peak brightness, 180 local dimming zones and a 8bit panel.
So now I'm annoyed. The price for the US version is R15k on Amazon. The cheapest I can find the SA version for is R17k. So not only do we pay more for this TV, but we also get less.
A little upset but I expand my search to see what Samsung and LG have to offer in the same price range. Well here I hit another wall. Neither Samsung nor LG disclose the full specifications of their TV's and you can't use review sites like rtings to check the specs because we don't get the same versions as the US. LG and Samsung don't disclose the panel bit-rate, or peak brightness on their TV's or even specify the amount of local dimming zones. They simply have little check boxes for their specs which mean absolutely nothing to a customer attempting to make an informed purchase decision.

 

[Stingrat]

Oh and one more to add

Hdr10+ certified != hdr10+ supported as i found out with samsung

 

[Raven007140]

Oh and one more to add

Hdr10+ certified != hdr10+ supported as i found out with samsung

Yes! It's all just a load of marketing BS to try and make a sub-par tv look better than what it really is

 

[Stingrat]

Yes! It's all just a load of marketing BS to try and make a sub-par tv look better than what it really is

Well its just plain deceit in this case.

 

[bythecantloads]

At that price just look at am LG OLED. Don't waste your time with Hisense.

 

[thecurto]

Check out TCL. They at least have detailed specs on their local page and should come in a bit cheaper than the Samsung and LG options:

TVs

TCL brings you a wide range of TV options, from 4K smart TVs to AI TVs. Tap here to view our smart TVs on sale and buy your TV online via Takealot.

www.tcl.com

 

[heinreich]

As a recent OLED snob, can confirm. Best purchase of the past year. LG C1, do iiiiit

 

[Raven007140]

At that price just look at am LG OLED. Don't waste your time with Hisense.

As a recent OLED snob, can confirm. Best purchase of the past year. LG C1, do iiiiit

LG OLED at 65" is 30k. That's not the same price range. Even 17k is stretching the budget.

Check out TCL. They at least have detailed specs on their local page and should come in a bit cheaper than the Samsung and LG options:

TVs

TCL brings you a wide range of TV options, from 4K smart TVs to AI TVs. Tap here to view our smart TVs on sale and buy your TV online via Takealot.

www.tcl.com

I'll go see what they have to offer.

 

[TheJudge]

I have a 43" UHD LG sitting in a box now. 2018 model, the backlighting for the screen stopped working. We can't get hold of the usual TV guy so wife contacts LG. LG charge R650 to look at it. In the form I explain that I've done the torch test and can confirm the panel is still working and that the OS still operates, just no light anymore. As required we provided the model no and details of the TV.

LG okes arrive late, walk into the house then shine a cellphone light on the screen and take a pic of the model no then walk out. Thats what R650 got me. The next day we get a R7500 quote because they firstly don't acknowledge that the TV uses a backlight (it uses LED strips behind an opaque screen to spread light evenly behind the panel) and second won't sell the LED strips (that cost R300 off ebay). Obviously we declined a repair bill higher than the cost of a new TV and went with a Samsung 43" UHD which is pretty meh at R6500. The LG salesman didn't get the hint that he should leave me alone when I bought the new TV but quickly retreated to a safe distance after I repeated my story in the store in front of other potential customers.

Anyway, I suspect you'll hear the same story about Samsung. Now I've got a Youtube video of how to fix my TV when the LED lighting arrives but the market seems to be a generally scammy kind of business.

 

[bythecantloads]

LG OLED at 65" is 30k. That's not the same price range. Even 17k is stretching the budget.


I'll go see what they have to offer.

Why 65" though?

I was in a situation where I was sitting about 5 to 6 meters... Maybe even a little bit further away from the TV. So I went from a 48" Hisense to 65" Hisense and the 65" was wayyyyy to big. Then scaled back to 55" OLED and it was perfect.

I would say that rather spending extra dough on on a larger size, take that money and spend it on better processing.

Both my Hisense TV's colour was off and no amount of fiddling could fix it.

Going to the LG you can see the difference in how they process an image. Samsung and LG are just way ahead of the game.

The best you can do is, go to Makro with a some mobile data and ask if you can connect it to the various TVs so you can view YouTube content and not the store display videos.

 

[Petester]

LG C1 - The end

 

[Pickled_Dick]

I've been looking to upgrade my tv and I've accidently stepped into the shady and deceitful world of TV marketing.
My journey started with a search on www.rtings.com to see what budget options they recommend. I came across the Hisense U8G which has 1500 nits peak brightness, 360 local dimming zones and a 10bit panel.

If you don't know what these specs mean:
Peak brightness is pretty self explanatory and measure how bright the TV can get, which is important for HDR content.
Local dimming allows the TV to dim certain zones independently. This helps if you have a really dark and really light object on screen at the same time. If you have no local dimming the tv will try to find a middle ground often dimming the bright object and increasing the brightness of the dark object which reduces the contrast in the scene. More local dimming zones = better.
10 Bit panel can produce a wider range of colours than an 8bit panel. This is also important for HDR content.

Back to my story:
I google and see that the U8G is available locally. However there's a catch, it's not the same as the US version of the TV! The SA version has 1000 nits peak brightness, 180 local dimming zones and a 8bit panel.
So now I'm annoyed. The price for the US version is R15k on Amazon. The cheapest I can find the SA version for is R17k. So not only do we pay more for this TV, but we also get less.
A little upset but I expand my search to see what Samsung and LG have to offer in the same price range. Well here I hit another wall. Neither Samsung nor LG disclose the full specifications of their TV's and you can't use review sites like rtings to check the specs because we don't get the same versions as the US. LG and Samsung don't disclose the panel bit-rate, or peak brightness on their TV's or even specify the amount of local dimming zones. They simply have little check boxes for their specs which mean absolutely nothing to a customer attempting to make an informed purchase decision.

My friend,

Maybe tell the entire story on amazon before shitting on local pricing
15k on amazon before shipping import duties,
duties on monitors larger then 18.5" are around 40% at the moment,
so that 15k tv is R21750 prior to shipping being added.


Secondly it is not old news that different places have different specs for products,
imagine going to hisense's south african site and seeing the exact specs you need

Hisense 55" LED Matrix | 55U8G | Hisense SA

Quantum Dot Full Array Local Dimming Pro 1000-Nit Peak Brightness Game Mode Voice Control VIDAA U5.0

hisense.co.za

TLDR
South africa is not america

 

[Raven007140]

I have a 43" UHD LG sitting in a box now. 2018 model, the backlighting for the screen stopped working...

I think they do this on purpose to push you into buying a new TV.

Why 65" though?

I've currently got a 55". It's not small, but there's just so much empty wall while looking at the TV. Plus half the content is shot in 21:9 so you're anyway not getting the full image. At this point I feel like I'm just going to wait for a massive discount, maybe after the next batch of OLED's release.

My friend,

Maybe tell the entire story on amazon before shitting on local pricing

I think you've missed the point of the post. I'm not suggesting that anyone ship a tv from the US. My point is the base price in the US is lower and the US version has better specs. Hisense has their specs posted, but please tell me what the peak brightness or local dimming zone count for these two TV's are:
65NANO75VPA
UA65AU7000KXXA

 

[Stingrat]

I think they do this on purpose to push you into buying a new TV.


I've currently got a 55". It's not small, but there's just so much empty wall while looking at the TV. Plus half the content is shot in 21:9 so you're anyway not getting the full image. At this point I feel like I'm just going to wait for a massive discount, maybe after the next batch of OLED's release.


I think you've missed the point of the post. I'm not suggesting that anyone ship a tv from the US. My point is the base price in the US is lower and the US version has better specs. Hisense has their specs posted, but please tell me what the peak brightness or local dimming zone count for these two TV's are:
65NANO75VPA
UA65AU7000KXXA

I have that samsung. Its not bright enough for hdr. Its passable but not what is needed.

 

[Raven007140]

I have that samsung. Its not bright enough for hdr. Its passable but not what is needed.

I have a Samsung MU7000 (55" MU7000 4K UHD TV | Samsung Support South Africa). It's brightness is horrible. So many movies/series have these really dark scenes: in dark scenes the TV can't cope, it just dims everything and the image looks terrible.

 

[Stingrat]

I have a Samsung MU7000 (55" MU7000 4K UHD TV | Samsung Support South Africa). It's brightness is horrible. So many movies/series have these really dark scenes: in dark scenes the TV can't cope, it just dims everything and the image looks terrible.

One thing to switch off. Energy saving. Took me 4 days to figure it out. Feels like a diff tv now

 

[Oj0]

I swear this thread is a duplicate from long ago, hold my beer.

 

[Oj0]

I knew it, it just wasn't that long ago.

https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?threads/hisense-sa-is-a-scam.398132/

Here's what I posted back then.

It's common for specs to vary by region - extremely common with monitors. LG does this, AOC does this, Samsung does this... Always go by the LOCAL site. Compare an LG monitor on the US site to the SA site and chances are they won't be the same. UPSs, same story. The local model will likely have a different shell and different inputs/outputs, even if the international site shows models with a Type M power plug. Monitors might have a different stand, different brightness, or even different panel. Local TP-Link switches/routers often look NOTHING like their American counterparts, sometimes even varying in colour. Laptops often have different specs. The list is endless.

It's not a scam, you just researched the incorrect region.

Look at the TP-Link Archer C6 v3 (I'm picking this as I added it to the website in the last few days - twice. Once incorrectly using the US specs, the second time correcting it to use the SA specs).

The international (US) version is a hideous square matte black thing with four chunky antennas at the back, the local version is a sort-of large carbon fiber pattern with a very rounded finish, with two antennas at the back and one on each side. Our v3 looks like the international v2, and the international v2 looks like our C6U.

Hell, TP-Link even mentions different specs ON THE SAME PRODUCT PAGE depending on region. The C6 supports WPA / WPA2 / WPA / WPA2-Enterprise for the EU version, and WPA / WPA2 / WPA3 for the US version, and this is shown within the same block on the product page.

AOC / LG / Samsung monitors vary greatly in appearance or specs, FSP UPSs have local configurations that FSP doesn't list on their website, Antec has local PSU SKUs that are branded under a different name, etc.

Hisense isn't in the wrong here, the person in the wrong is the lazy sod who didn't confirm he was looking at specs for the local model before advertising it. [this was referencing anyone who loaded the stock to a local store without checking the local specs - specs which Hisense does not hide]

If you do consider the TCL route, I'm in the process of being listed as a reseller on their website and am generally cheaper than Takealot.

You can see the range here:

TVs — Best Deals in South Africa at Progenix

progenix.co.za

 

[Raven007140]

I knew it, it just wasn't that long ago.

https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?threads/hisense-sa-is-a-scam.398132/

Here's what I posted back then.

So what's annoying me is that we don't have the US version. We have a worse version. There's no option to buy the better version here and some of the TV's don't have complete specs. If your shopping for Samsung or LG there's no way to see what the peak brightness or number of local dimming zones are. They don't provide that info on their sites. Now that would be fine if I could use something like rtings, but because we get different models even that isn't an option. You're shopping blind.

 

[LaidToRest]

LG C1 OLED = Done!

I returned a Hisense QLED and LG NanoCell TV due to backlight and dimming issues. Got the proof pics. My friend returned three Samsung Q80T's due to the same issues. Basically, all LED-based LCD TVs have this and if you want perfection at a reasonable price It's not even close.

 

[thecurto]

So what's annoying me is that we don't have the US version. We have a worse version. There's no option to buy the better version here and some of the TV's don't have complete specs. If your shopping for Samsung or LG there's no way to see what the peak brightness or number of local dimming zones are. They don't provide that info on their sites. Now that would be fine if I could use something like rtings, but because we get different models even that isn't an option. You're shopping blind.

I'm coining the phrase 'third world tax' (if no one else has yet).

Third world TVs, third world Disney+ app, third world Samsung phones with Exynos chips - It is what it is

 

[CodeJBDA]

Just dropping my 2 cents here, but I agree with you on this, the service that we get here is poor and the product range is even WORSE! I had the SAME situation with the Hisense. They should rename the TV if it's not the same one. I'm looking for a 75in TV that can still deliver good quality. Unfortunately as my tv spot is right next to a large window, a C1 is out of the question and to be honest I'm still to scared of burn in.

 

[Switch]

Well seems to be a semi thread necro so might as well throw in a post.

10 Bit panel can produce a wider range of colours than an 8bit panel. This is also important for HDR content.

Just to point out, a 10 bit panel does not automatically display all images in 10 bit colour, you need to have media that is encoded in 10 bit colour (I think, and stand corrected, that it's possible to convert 8 bit to 10 bit but that is a crapshoot upscale technique like converting native 480p to sort-of-fits-but-looks-distorted/zoomed-in 1440p) to decode and display 10 bit colour. You also get 10 bit colour for sdr content, not as impressive as hdr.